Why do I care?

In 1974 I landed in South Africa, bright eyed and bushy tailed with a passion to defeat Apartheid, since going to the USSR and defeating Communism was too daunting. Well, I should have realised that my then husband was not going to make this easy and he didn’t. He was scared y authority and my parents, who have preceded us, were no better.

However, I had landed in this country and felt my feet rooted into the ground. I had come home. Africa is my land and where I wish to be. So much so that I have never left it since the 4th June 1974. Its tentacles bind me to the soil.

It is the most mesmorising continent. Great wealth and great poverty exist side by side. Huge injustices are condoned and fought. Great mineral wealth is exploited at the expense of water and food. Human health is sacrificed on the altar of profit. Animals are destroyed for gain and species are lost for greed.

Human life is discounted. Rulers are despots and unaccountable even in democracies.

However, the new generation is aware of this and they are questioning and will begin the change that must come. This is the paradox of Africa – tradition versus change. This new generation realises that tradition is not making Africa richer but making it poorer. This is not what should be happening and they are questioning it and will change it.

This enlivens me because these young people are our future. We have hope and creativity. We have solutions. And that is special